3D printed spiders using PolyJet technology for Halloween!

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble! This year for Halloween the TriMech RP Services team is brewing up some cute little flexible spiders to decorate the office and you can join along and print some of your own using our multiple material recipe! You may not have a need for spiders, but you probably can think of some applications where combining rigid and flexible materials would come in handy.

These spiders can be made on any PolyJet multi-material system that can print in both a rigid and a flexible material at the same time, but we recommend using the new Stratasys J35 or the Stratasys J55 PolyJet 3D printers in order to spin a web that matches our print tray perfectly!

Stratasys J55 PolyJet Spider

Ingredients for 3D printed spiders:

First, download the GrabCAD Print “TriMech Halloween Spider Tutorial Tray” that we will be using HERE! If you are using a J55, choose any two additional materials that you would like to use!

• 1 Cartridge of Elastico Black
• 1 Cartridge of VeroUltra WhiteS
• 1 Cartridge of VeroUltra BlackS

Steps:

1. Make sure that your Stratasys J35 or J55 is loaded with all three materials and you’ve completed your head optimization wizard process following this process if the materials were not already loaded.
2. If you have not done so lately, clean your heads, wiper, roller, and UV lens, to ensure optimal print quality. Also make sure that your tray is empty, and clean from all previous builds.
3. Using GrabCAD Print, open the “TriMech Halloween Spider Tutorial Tray” file that contains one Stratasys J-series Spider file. This file will automatically open using the J35 printer template but can be adjusted accordingly for a J55 or other machines. You will need to select your PolyJet 3D printer at this point to ensure that all of the settings can be correctly sent over to the printer when you are ready to make your spider.
4. Feel free to scale your spider(s) however you would like using the “Scale” options menu. Next, you can use the “Orient” menu to rotate the model so that its “feelers” are facing the center of the tray. You don’t necessarily have to do this rotation, but we find that the spider printers particularly well when facing this direction.
   

   Spider print parameters on J55

5. Next, click “Model Settings” menu, then click on one of the 27 bodies of the model. Our spider template is adjusted for several different ShoreA durometers and rigid blends using combinations of Elastico Black and either VeroUltra WhiteS or VeroUltra BlackS. We use flexible blends for the legs and rigid simulated Polypropylene-like blends for the front of the feelers and the “TriMech” logo and font. Free to play around with the durometer blends however you would like!
   

   Spider Durometers on J55

6. Click on the entire spider model from the assembly tree box in the top left-hand corner of the screen. With the entire model highlighted blue, choose either Matte or Glossy from the “Model Settings” menu. If you would like to mix and match surface finishes, that is absolutely fine too, since we’re having fun experimenting with how different settings produce a different look and feel in the end model.
7. When you’re happy with all of the settings, click “Print” in the bottom right-hand corner. GrabCAD Print will estimate the print parameters, specify the print time and material usage, as well as evaluate whether or not there are any issues with the tray or the printer’s configuration. If you get a large green checkmark that says “Good to go!” Click send, and your tray will be sent over to the printer.”
   

   PolyJet Spider Print Parameters

8. At the printer, click the play icon (triangle). Click OK when the printer asks to make sure that the tray is cleared and the door is closed. Now you’re spinning a web that will soon be a beautiful little flexible PolyJet spider!
9. Once the print is complete, remove the spider from the machine, run the routine cleaning wizard on the printer to ensure that it’s ready for your next print, remove the support material using a waterjet, and enjoy!

Happy Halloween!